During the Three Kingdoms period, there were the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu, which can be said to be common knowledge in Chinese history. However, in the early stage of the existence of the Three Kingdoms, in fact, there was a basically self-reliant regime in Han for a long time, and this regime experienced a total of three generations and four lords, and the reign lasted for 50 years. During its existence, it not only had deep entanglements with Cao Wei and Yuan, but even achieved a certain degree of expansion on the Korean Peninsula, which can be said to have really left its own traces in history. So who exactly is this regime?What happened during its existence?
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Gongsun clan was a big family in today's Liaoning region, and the regime we want to talk about today is the Gongsun regime in Liaodong, and its founder is called Gongsun Du, and the rise of this person can be said to be full of peculiar turns. Gongsun was a big surname in Liaodong County for a long time at that time, and in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the person who served as the Taishou of Liaodong was called Gongsun Chen (yù). And this Gongsun Chen has a son named Gongsun Du. But don't get me wrong, this Gongsun Du is not the Gongsun Du who later established the Gongsun regime in Liaodong.
And although this Gongsun Du is the son of Liaodong Taishou, it is said that the living conditions should be good, but he has no life to enjoy and died very early, and Gongsun Chen, who lost his beloved son, is naturally very sad. But what is incredible is that at that time, in Gongsun Chen's yamen, there was a small official named Gongsun Du, and he was born in the same year as his dead son. And this Gongsun Du is smart and clever and very good at doing things, and he was soon regarded as the object of emotional sustenance by Gongsun Chen, who had just lost his son.
Soon after, this Gongsun Du was adopted as a righteous son by Gongsun Chen. Gongsun Chen not only provided him with education, married a wife for him, but also vigorously cultivated him, and really had to train him as his own son. In this way, not long after, Gongsun Du, who was born as a small official, was promoted to filial piety, and was recommended to Shangshutai of the Eastern Han Dynasty and came to work in the ** regime of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Dong Zhuo once helped the rise of Gongsun Du, and at that time, the Eastern Han Dynasty had entered a turbulent period, and Gongsun Du had no foundation in the imperial court, so the official position he obtained was soon lost, and it can be said that his rise was just beginning and he was about to die. But it wasn't long before his fate took a second turn. Soon Dong Zhuo took control of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Dong Zhuo had an important subordinate Xu Rong who was also born in Liaodong and was a fellow villager with Gongsun Du. Soon after, Gongsun Du quickly became acquainted with Xu Rong, and Xu Rong recommended Gongsun Du to Dong Zhuo. In 189 AD, Dong Zhuo appointed Gongsun Du as the Taishou of Liaodong. In this way, Gongsun Du, a small official, obtained the power of Liaodong through this peculiar path.
And Gongsun Du, who had been in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was also very clear about the situation that the Eastern Han Dynasty Mansion was about to collapse at that time, so after he took control of the Liaodong regime, he quickly adopted a series of measures and began to divide himself. Soon after arriving in Liaodong, he publicly executed a county magistrate who had provoked him, Sun Zhao, and quickly established his authority. In the second year, he established himself as the Marquis of Liaodong and the pastor of Pingzhou, and expanded the army on his own, and began to divide the territory in Liaodong.
After Gongsun Du was also one of the important separatist forces in the late Han Dynasty, he quickly divided Liaodong County into three counties, set up three counties of Liaodong, Liaozhong and Liaoxi, and soon sent troops to occupy the Dengzhou Peninsula in present-day Shandong, and controlled the two counties of Lelang and Xuansu established in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula in the Han Dynasty. The scope of his control soon expanded to 5 counties in Liaodong plus a part of the Shandong Peninsula, and he became one of the most powerful princes.
In addition to the rapid expansion of the military, Gongsun Du also made full preparations for his own secession in Liaodong, he once publicly told his cronies that there were folk rumors at that time that there was a person named Sun Deng who wanted to become the Son of Heaven, and his surname was Gongsun, the word Shengji, and Shenghe Deng agreed, so Sun Deng, who wanted to become the Son of Heaven, was actually himself, so he even used the honor guard of the Son of Heaven when he traveled.
In the context of the warlord melee at that time, Gongsun Du also quickly had an attempt to get involved in the Central Plains. At one time, he wanted to take advantage of Cao Cao's expedition to use 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry to raid Yecheng, Cao Cao's base camp at that time. However, Liang Mao, a well-known strategist who was detained by him at that time, analyzed the comparison of his strength with Cao Cao in detail for him, and believed that it was difficult for him to challenge Cao Cao rashly to win, so it was better to consolidate Liaodong and watch the melee in the Central Plains. Gongsun Du adopted Liang Mao's opinion after judging the situation, and then adopted the strategy of protecting the territory and defending himself.
The sphere of influence of the Gongsun clan in its heyday, but in Liaodong, Gongsun Du was still very aggressive. Because the situation around Liaodong was also very complicated at that time, there were ethnic groups such as Goguryeo, Wuheng and Buyeo. Among them, Goguryeo has a similar overlord status, and in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it often challenged the border counties of the Han Dynasty, attacked Liaodong and Xuansu and other places several times, and killed the Liaodong Taishou of the Han Dynasty on the battlefield.
However, Gongsun Du quickly gained the upper hand in the confrontation with Goguryeo, and once wanted to support Goguryeo's lost royal brother to seize the throne and then control the Goguryeo regime. At that time, he borrowed 30,000 troops to send a rebellion to the king of Goguryeo, but the rebellion ultimately failed, and Gongsun Du's attempt to control Goguryeo was unsuccessful. But this history is also enough to show that he suppressed Goguryeo at that time.
In addition, Gongsun Du also attacked Wuhuan in the west, and surrendered to himself against the Buyeo ethnic group that had been suppressed by Goguryeo at that time, so much so that he left a record in the history books that "the nine kinds of Dongyi all served".
Cao Cao also had an intersection with the Gongsun clan, so Gongsun Du successfully established his rule in Liaodong and became a prince of one side. During the reign of his son Gongsun Kang, the position of the Gongsun regime was even further strengthened. First of all, in 207 AD, after Cao Cao defeated the combined forces of Wuhuan and Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang, Wuhuan Shan Yu Su Fuyan and Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang once led the remnants of the army to Gongsun Kang, and Sun Quan of Eastern Wu also sent envoys to Liaodong at that time, wanting Liaodong to submit to himself, that is, to ally with it. It can be said that the Gongsun regime once became a sweet spot that several parties wanted to woo.
However, after weighing the pros and cons, Gongsun Kang decided that Cao Cao was already a dominant power in North China, so it was not wise to join forces with other forces to challenge Cao Cao. Therefore, he simply killed Wuhuan Shan Yu, the Yuan brothers, and the envoys of Eastern Wu together, and expressed his submission to Cao Cao, in exchange for Cao Cao's approval of his secession of Liaodong.
Both of Yuan Shao's sons were killed by Gongsun Kang, and after stabilizing Cao Cao, Gongsun Kang once again concentrated his forces on Goguryeo, "destroying its kingdom and burning its towns", and seized a large amount of territory from it. Later, Gongsun Kang set up Obibang County in the south of Lelang County, and Obibang County even touched the southern region of the Korean Peninsula, and it can be said that the Gongsun regime at that time had completely suppressed Goguryeo, so that it left a record of "Xiongzhang Haidong and Waiyi" in the history books.
But in 221 AD, Gongsun Kang died, after which his younger brother Gongsun Gong took power in Liaodong. Gongsun Gong's ability was much worse than that of his father and brother, and he was never able to serve the public internally, and was taken away by Gongsun Kang's son Gongsun Yuan in 228 AD.
But after Gongsun Yuan took control of Liaodong, he also miscalculated his strength. He first gave up the strategy of defending the territory and took the initiative to contact Dongwu, so that Dongwu agreed to canonize him as the king of Yan. However, Gongsun Yuan soon realized that Eastern Wu was far away in the south of the Yangtze River and it was difficult for him to be of substantial help, so he even beheaded Zhang Mi, the envoy of Eastern Wu, and gave their heads to Cao Wei.
The Gongsun regime was eventually destroyed by Sima Yi, but Gongsun Yuan's move to claim the throne by borrowing the power of Eastern Wu made Cao Wei realize that Liaodong might also cause trouble for him in the future, so he quickly asked him to join the court, but Gongsun Yuan of course refused. Finally, in 238 AD, Cao Wei's important minister Sima Yi led a large army to attack the Gongsun clan, and captured its capital Xiangping in August of that year. In this way, the Gongsun regime, which lasted for about 50 years, came to an end, but its actions such as the development of Liaodong, the killing of the Yuan clan, and the suppression of Goguryeo can be said to have had a considerable impact on the evolution of Chinese history. (*From the web).